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Sarah let herself relax further into the side of the truck as she took in the two women before her. Dani, comfortably asleep with her head in Grace’s lap and Grace looking down at her, carefully studying her face. It all reminded her a little too much of another soldier she met twenty seven years ago. She narrowed her eyes as Grace rested her hand on Dani’s shoulder just as the young woman had started to twitch in her sleep. She watched Dani quickly settle down and her face smooth back out into the peaceful bliss that came with sleep. Grace just continued to watch her with a content smile on her face. The smile and those eyes was all softness and love.
"What is she to you?" Sarah asked, her voice low enough just for her and Grace to hear in the back of the truck. She winced internally when Grace's head shot up hard and fast enough to make any human's neck crack painfully. Grace's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as her eyes turned hard, all softness gone.
"She's my mission. I'm her protector." The hybrid replied, defensively. Sarah's eyebrow rose up in disbelief and she stared at the blonde critically. "Cut the bullshit, kid. You look at her like she's more than that. You look at her like she's everything to you." Sarah nodded her head at Grace's hand resting comfortingly on Dani's shoulder. "She's someone very important to you. Someone you love."
Grace looked down at Dani's face, still and peaceful in sleep and let out a small breath. She looked up and met Sarah's eye and nodded. "We never meant to fall for each other. It was suppose to be just fucking." Grace began, looking down at Dani's face again with a quick smile. "The just sex lasted for all of two months before I realized that she was all I think about. Dani was the reason I wanted to make sure I came back alive from every mission. For some reason she felt the same way." Grace shrugged, a rueful smile on her face. “It was stupid. I was a foot soldier who could die at any time, replaceable, and she was one of the best engineers working on tech to help us get a leg up on the machines.”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed and she held up her hand to stop Grace from continuing, “There’s no way you two are even remotely close in age in the future so what the hell do you mean you two were together.” Grace shook her head and frowned, “I don’t know how or when but somewhere along the line John and his team figured out how to slow human aging. I’m not sure if they accidentally stumbled upon it or were working towards it but it was something that was needed. Nobody really wants to try for kids in the middle of a war zone.” Sarah pursed her lips and quickly thought through the pros and cons of such a possibility and nodded her head for Grace to continue.
“My squad was sent out on what was supposed to be an easy recon mission of a small, almost defunct production factory, if we found anything useful we were to grab it and bring it back to base for analysis.” Grace paused and gave Sarah a bright smile, the first time Sarah had actually seen her look anything other than focused. “She kissed me and made me promise to come back to her in one piece. I told her nothing would keep me from her.”
Sarah stayed silent and let Grace have a minute to just look at Dani, watching the careful way she rubbed her thumb across her shoulder. She thought about the brief moments she shared with Kyle, how the way Grace looked at Dani was the same way he looked at her. Sarah cleared her throat to get Grace’s attention. “I’m guessing the mission wasn’t as easy as what was briefed to your squad.” She said, her frown starting to deepen as the hybrid shrunk back like she was preparing to get punched.
Grace shook her head with a grimace. “No. It was a trap. The machines had managed to feed us bad intel in an attempt to cut down what they assumed to be an elite squad of our best.” Grace licked her lips and looked away to watch the trees pass behind Sarah’s head. “They killed two of us, Rocky and Jessie, before any of us knew what was going on. It was complete chaos in a matter of seconds. Twelve of us against two Rev-9s. We managed to put one down after it had taken out three more of us and almost broke my arm.” Grace swallowed and turned her head up from the trees to the sky.
“I had just gotten thrown to the side by half of it when I saw the other half cornering the new kid, Eli. He was barely seventeen and on his first real mission. The blood had drained from his face but he just kept trying everything he had on him.” Grace’s voice cracked and turned her head back to face Sarah head on. “I didn’t think. I just moved, throwing myself on it’s back and yelling at Eli to get the hell out of there. It didn’t work out too well for me of course since it just easily threw me down and started to beat down on me.”
Grace frowned and looked down at Dani’s face when she felt her twitch in her lap. “If it hadn’t of been for Ash getting her homemade rocket launcher to work I would have died from the next blow.” Grace said, looking up and laughing. “We were all convinced that that piece of shit was either never going to work or it was just going to spontaneously explode one day. I always threatened to kick her ass if she so much as walked past me with it.” Sarah grinned and nodded in agreement, “I once had a homemade grenade not detonate after I threw it until I flicked a coin at it. I still don’t understand how it could withstand being thrown on solid ground but not a dime.”
Grace shook her head, “You have to love homemade weapons.” She rubbed her thumb across Dani’s shoulder and let her smile turn bittersweet. “I was barely breathing by the time they brought me back to base. I was covered in blood and my body was broken far beyond repair.” She looked down at Dani, her smile turning into a deep frown. “Dani was the first to see me. She said she couldn't breathe and felt like she never would again as soon as she realized it was.”
Sarah swallowed and stared at the pair. Her mind wandered to thoughts of Kyle with his broken neck and wide, dead eyes at the bottom of those metal stairs. She could empathize with Dani and that made her uncomfortable. “Is that how you became half machine?” Sarah asked, clearing her throat and wanting nothing more to focus on someone else’s past. Grace looked up and nodded her head in confirmation, “Dani and John had been working on plans to integrate terminator tech with a human being. They wanted something that was just as strong and fast as a terminator but still had heart.”
Grace swallowed and looked at Sarah head on, her eyes watering slightly. “She begged John to approve me as the first subject. She said she couldn’t let me die. Apparently it was a bit of a fight.” Sarah gave her what she hoped was a comforting smile and said, “Looks like she didn’t let you.” Grace smiled back at her and nodded her head. “I woke up about a month later to her worried face hovering over me. She wouldn't leave my side, insisting on dragging a cot into the room to stay with me It took me another month to get used to my new body before they let me go out in the field again.”
Grace let out a sigh and frowned, “We conducted a raid on one of their smaller facilities and managed to hack into a terminal for two or three minutes, enough to download a few plans and orders that were being given out. Enough to know that Legion had figured out who Dani was and what she did for the resistance.” Sarah frowned and looked up at Grace with an unimpressed look. “So Legion decided to send an assassin back in time to kill her to prevent any and all work she’ll do. That’s original.”
Grace just shrugged her shoulders. “Of course John decided to do the same and I volunteered.” She said, looking back down to check on Dani, her thumb gently rubbing circles into her shoulder. “I’m sure future Dani wasn’t very happy with that since I’m assuming you have no way back to her.” Sarah said, watching Grace’s face morph into a deep frown as she looked up at the older woman. “She begged me not to but I love her and she saved my life. How can I not return the favor? Besides, there's no one else that could protect her better than me."
Sarah's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Still it must be hard. You're here with her now, with all these feelings for her and you see her as yours, but to her you're just the pretty stranger that was sent back into time to protect her." She said, realizing that she might come off as cold and unkind. Grace's frown deepened and she swallowed harshly as she looked down at, "It's hard and painful but who knows? Maybe my being here now will create some time paradox or an alternate future and I don’t have to leave her or she'll fall for me now. All I really want is and all that matters is that she is safe no matter what.” She gently let her fingers drift over Dani's forehead and softly smiled when Dani wriggled her head closer to Grace's stomach.
Sarah could see just how hopeful Grace was that either this present Dani would fall for her or in the future she would be able to be with her Dani for a very long time. She wasn’t sure if the hybrid was stupid for holding out hope or if it was actually really logical and smart. Grace could be right about how time could ripple out from this moment. Hell, she and John had destroyed Skynet and in its place rose Legion keeping the future a dark place for humans. Maybe things would work out better for Grace and Dani than it had for her and Kyle.
“Between the two of us we can handle anything that metal motherfucker can throw at us and keep her safe.” Sarah vowed, a small smile on her face and Grace nodded back to her in agreement, determination etched on every line of her face.